The situation in Assam has become serious, and India is committing grave human rights abuses.
Curfew imposed in Tinsukia, Assam after clashes
Soldiers were deployed and a curfew was imposed across Tinsukia district, Assam on Saturday, one day after security forces fired into a crowd of rampaging protesters marching on a police station, killing nine people, a police official said. One paramilitary soldier was killed in the incident and 12 police and paramilitary soldiers were injured, according to Debojit Hazarika, the police superintendent of Assam’s Tinsukia district. In addition to the soldier, five protesters were killed instantly in the shooting on Friday, while three others succumbed to injuries Saturday, said Bhaskar Mahanta, another police official. It was not clear how many civilians were injured. He said police and paramilitary soldiers were deployed Saturday in the district in a bid to restore calm. “The situation today is tense but under control,” said Hazarika, with townspeople preparing for the cremations of the dead civilians. The shooting occurred Friday evening in the town of Lajum, in the Tinsukia district, about 600 kilometres east of Guwahati, he said.
According to Hazarika, a crowd of about 10,000 rampaging protesters were moving on the Lajum police station, stealing weapons from paramilitary soldiers, burning cars and throwing bottles and rocks, when the police opened fire. “The mob was advancing on the local police station, forcing security forces to fire in self-defense,” he said. His account could not be independently confirmed. The crowds were protesting the alleged death in Army custody of a young man from the town, who had been arrested Feb. 6 on suspicion of being a separatist militant. The Army had ordered an investigation into the man’s death, Hazarika said. Lajum is seen as a stronghold of support for the rebels of the United Liberation Front of Asom, or ULFA, a militant movement that has been fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979.